The number of investors bidding to acquire the 75 per cent equity share being offered for sale in the Nigeria Telecommunication Company limited (Nitel) by the government, has risen to 14 from the 10 originally announced by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, director general of BPE, disclosed this at a pre- bid conference with interested investors and other stakeholders held in Abuja last week.
The companies positioning to acquire Nitel are: MTN Nigeria Communication Limited, Etisalat Nigeria, Bry Media (WA) Ltd, Finetek.Com/Ericsson Consortium, Omen International Lrd, MTI Consortium, Telefonica Consortium and Globacom Nigeria ltd. Also on the list are; Oman Ltd, Dansocom Technologies ltd, Adison Consulting, Foneama.Com and Afzitelcom.
According to Anyanwu, ‘the pre-bid conference is designed to attend to questions germane to the bidding process, rub minds with all the stakeholders in the on-going sale transaction as well as educate the prospective investors in particular on the bidding process.”
He said that the National Council of Privatization (NCP) had approved that Nitel/Mtel be sold without debts, so bidders are buying free of liabilities except project related liabilities like CDMA that may be difficult to separate as they are not completed. He noted, that the proceeds from the sale will be relied on to resolve the outstanding debts in moribund telecommunications company.
He named some of the Nitel components as; Sat 3 (international gateway), Nitel landline network, Mtel GSM network, Fibre optic Transmission Backbone, and CDMA network system.
Engr. Ernest Ndukwe executive vice chairman of Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) said that his presence was simply to clarify issues in respect of the sector. He explained that NCC does not allow spectrum trading or third parties to sell license, pointing out that current GSM operators will not be allowed to bid for Nitel with its Mtel component.
